What in the World Just Happened?
by SwimmerGirl0726
Summary: After the sort-of capture of the cabbie serial killer Sherlock is telling Lestrade his deductions about who could possibly be the shooter. Then, mid deduction, he cuts off and asks Lestrade not to investigate further. Suspicious? Nah, probably not! This is just a one shot stream of consciousness of some of Lestrade's thoughts on this abnormality and on Sherlock's new flatmate.


**AN- This is my first fic and I wrote it a while ago, so my style is a bit off from what I write now. It's not my favorite bit of writing, but I hope someone likes it!**

Lestrade flopped down on his bed with a sigh once he got back to his flat. His sleeping wife muttered something in her sleep and turned over, but the detective didn't notice. His thoughts were miles away at a certain school campus. This case had been weirder than most. Who had ever heard of a suicide serial killer?! He sighed again, wiping a hand over his face; only while working with Sherlock would one find this sort of weird.

A frown crossed his face as he considered the unique consulting detective. Sherlock had acted really out of character after he had caught, sort of, the serial killer cabbie. In the twenty something years he had worked with the strange man he had never seen him cut off mid-deduction like he had earlier this evening.

The detective inspector had been briefly concerned, but he had enough on his plate that the strange actions of Sherlock Holmes were quickly set aside. Now, hours later, those worries were back. Sherlock is absolutely brilliant, but predictable in his own way. He could always be counted on to brag about his deduction skills and HATED to be interrupted- so why would he interrupt himself, and then leave so quickly with that new companion of his?

Speaking of which, what was his name? Something with a w…Watson! John Watson was the name now that Lestrade thought about it. He had been around a rather lot during this last case, yet another strange occurrence. Sherlock had attempted to have assistants before. Men, women, students, and even a therapist who thought she could _help_ Sherlock somehow.

This memory earned a bitter laugh. The poor woman hadn't lasted long and had ended up lucky not to be checked into the very psychiatric ward that she used to work in. She had wisely decided that it would be beneficial to her health to consider another line of work and was now a secretary for some fancy business owner. None of these past assistants had actually helped Sherlock, as he preferred just to talk to that creepy skull on his fireplace mantle. Everyone at the station had nicknamed it Shirley Jr.

This Watson, Lestrade didn't know a whole lot about him. He groaned, he was so tired and he needed sleep to be able to go to work the next day, but he knew his mind wouldn't let him rest until he had solved this mini-mystery about Sherlock's actions and new 'colleague'.

Reluctantly he sat up, careful not to wake up his sleeping wife, and started up his PC. Once he was signed in he looked up 'Doctor John Watson' on the police database. Let's see… The man had been in the army! That would explain the limp… Didn't that limp go away though? He had had a pronounced limp at the crime scene with Jennifer Wilson, but Lestrade was sure that when he had seen him later that evening that he had no cane and walked with a confidence that was absent earlier. Hmm…maybe Sherlock was not the only one to benefit from this arrangement.

Even more curious now, Lestrade looked further. Invalided home from Afghanistan, it didn't seem like he had a job yet and it would appear that he was behind on his flat payments. So he was an injured army doctor looking for a new flat and a person to help with the bills, easy enough to deduce for himself. But why would anyone pick Sherlock as a flatmate?

Good heavens, he sounded like Sherlock! Trying to be all deductive and clever, why didn't he just ask the man! But something inside him stopped him, call it pride or whatever you wish, Lestrade wanted to figure this one out on his own after being shown up by Sherlock at his own crime scene. Which brought him back to his original question, why Sherlock's odd behavior after the capture, and was it related to John Watson?

Sherlock had been describing the mystery shooter they still haven't found yet. Sherlock usually loved this kind of challenge, so it was doubly out of the ordinary for him to have dropped it. And to ask Lestrade not to investigate, either?! Was he being threatened? No, Sherlock didn't respond to threats the way normal people did. He would have been even more interested in the case, so that crosses that off the list of possibilities. Maybe he had seen something- the shooter? Possible, if he had figured it out he might not tell the police just to be annoying, but it usually amused him to see the top minds in London try to figure out what had taken him seconds to deduce.

Unless he didn't want it figured out! This new realization hit Lestrade like a train. Sherlock was protecting somebody!

Stranger and stranger, the sociopath didn't have normal emotions so who would be deemed useful enough to need protecting? Not anyone on the force for sure, he didn't think anyone on the force would stick their necks out that far for the strange man.

Mycroft, possibly? No, Mycroft hadn't turned up until later, and even then, Sherlock practically hated his brother and Mycroft was not one to get his hands dirty. Come on, think! He could practically hear the consulting detective's voice in his head, taunting him and telling him to figure it out on his own.

Ok, what clues did he have? Sherlock had managed to say half the deduction before cutting off, so what did he say? Ok, something about the type of gun and range indicating that whoever it was, they were a crack shot. Well no duh! That didn't narrow it down a whole lot. Ok, continuing: didn't Sherlock say that whoever it was had military training? There were a few men on the force that had been in the war, but again, none that would take that big of a risk for Sherlock, but Sherlock had said that the man had morals, so that more or less opened the field right back up again.

Lestrade glanced at his computer, thinking he could try a profiling search when his eyes landed on the already open file of a certain military doctor. This gave Lestrade pause. Recent military service would give Watson the experience and skill to make the shot, and he was a doctor for heaven's sake! He wouldn't injure someone on purpose unless it was absolutely necessary. All of the pieces fell together. Sherlock's new flatmate was the shooter!

John obviously was very different from the past assistants, but is this good or bad?

He considered what he already knew of him. From what he had seen of the doctor at the crime scene while Sherlock was doing his deductions, Watson was obviously in awe of the intimidating man, but he had also not been afraid to tell Sherlock he was acting "not good" during the staged drug bust. And earlier at the crime scene, he had been asking Sherlock questions about what he was deducing and was actually getting answers! Lestrade had probably gained more out of Sherlock through the doctor's questioning than he usually got in an entire investigation. So far things were looking definitely positive because of Sherlock's new assistant.

Lestrade allowed himself a smile. Sherlock would have someone else to text in the middle of the night because he needed a hand in his newest experiment. Someone would be around to watch him and be bold enough to keep him in check. None of the past assistants had dared cross the detective or even talk when Sherlock was deducing. They had been about as much help as Shirley Jr. in keeping the eccentric scientist in line.

This was important because, although he tried to deny it, Lestrade shared some of agent Donovan's fears that one day Sherlock might become bored with simply solving crimes and would turn to creating crimes instead. The earth might be better off just setting itself on fire the day that Sherlock Holmes decided to become a criminal mastermind rather than a consulting detective. If Sherlock had someone to be accountable to, that might just help.

Working with Sherlock was a demanding and often dangerous pastime, but John had been there every step of the way and was already used to danger anyway from his time in the field. But then again, he did just get back from life in the field. Would he really want to step out of one war and practically right into the next one?

Lestrade grinned, from what he had seen with his limp, so bad before he could barely kneel down and then disappearing only hours later, it was obviously not a real limp and something mental. Lestrade glanced at the file on his computer- yup, the doctor had been shot in the shoulder, not the leg, but Lestrade would have bet his life that something happened that left John with a psychosomatic limp.

Long story short, John's limp gets better when he is around Sherlock for long periods of time. He regains the confidence he lost when he was injured and is honestly probably better off when he has something to occupy his mind instead of focusing on the past.

Lestrade knows that most of this is pure speculation, but it is enough of an answer to let him sleep. Who could know how this relationship between the detective and doctor would go? Lestrade has never known Sherlock to have any sort of romantic feelings for anyone, man or woman so that would definitely not be a problem. And from the looks Lestrade had seen John shooting one of the female EMT's it wouldn't be a problem from that end either.

Good heavens, if Sherlock could find a friend in the form of this short army doctor then everyone's life would become a whole lot easier! Yes, that soldier fellow could be the making of Sherlock Holmes, or make him worse than ever. Either way, Lestrade thought he might upgrade what surveillance he had on Sherlock. Not that he had a lot to begin with, but maybe a small camera inside the shop next to their flat would do something to ease his stress level. Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, he mused. Lestrade didn't think he could pick a better team even if he tried.

**AN- Let me know what you thought. I'm currently working on a couple of full-length stories, but they wont be posted for a while. See my profile for more details.**


End file.
